


What's Up Doc?

by Jaynine9



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson Fluff, Awesome Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Bad Puns, Dorks in Love, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, Minor Annabeth Chase/Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Nico & Reyna Friendship, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace are Cute, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace are Dorks, Nico is a Dork, Will is a Mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-03-16 16:18:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13639845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaynine9/pseuds/Jaynine9
Summary: After his first unofficial heartbreak, officially named, Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo had never worked up the courage to ask out the annoyingly cute blonde barista that works at the local cafe, during the most ungodly hours of the day. Every morning the aforementioned annoyingly cute barista, or as he's known to literally everyone besides Nico, Will Solace, scribbles a pun on the side of Nico's cup of dark roast. Never the same pun twice, never failing to make Nico blush like a school girl with a crush.But two pining idiots can only hope for the best.





	1. Nico Came For the Coffee and Got Trashed

Will Solace loved puns. 

Nico would say that the blonde's affection for the wordplay was disgusting to an unhealthy extent, but he figured the med student would really get a kick out of the one. 

"Do the words, 'shred of dignity' mean anything to you?" Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano arched a perfect brow, watching the dark-haired boy mouth curses at the smiling barista, tending to a blushing brunette, with dip-dyed red ends. "It's obvious you have a thing for him, and he clearly wants you to pin him to the fucking wall, so what is the damn problem?" If it was too early for Nico to even muster up a blush at his best friend's brute word choice, it sure as hell was too early for him to have to deal with-

"Did you see what this douche bag wrote on my cup this morning?" Without waiting for a response, he turned the cup around to face Reyna. Squinting at the slanted script, Reyna's mouth tilted upwards at the sentence. 

"'When you feel depresso, have a little espresso.'" Reyna snorted, "He made fun of your height and your anxiety in the same sentence. Well," Nico leaned forward, waiting for the older girl to drop some great words of advice upon him. "Two birds, one stone."

"I hate you," Nico snarled, crossing his arms over his chest. He refused to drink his first coffee of the day out of a cup with such garbage written on it. It would be like telling Solace that he had won. To his face. Nico groaned, dropping his head into the open textbook he should've been reading. Mr. Hades was going to kill him if he failed another test but the words made no sense to him. With his dyslexia and English being his second language, Nico hated English examinations. The letters would spin around, dance in front of his eyes, like they were celebrating his failures. Not to mention, coming to this coffee shop, stupidly named "Half-Blood Cafe," exactly when he knew Will's shift would start, and dragging Reyna with him, probably should've told him that he wasn't going to get much work done.

Speaking of cursed blonde, sunshine boys, "Hey guys! Can I get you anything else?" It was too early for any sane person to be smiling so much, but Will Solace managed to look like he had dragged the morning sky into the room with him. "Hey, Nico!" Will repeated his greeting, as if Nico hadn't heard him the first time. From the corner of his eye, he saw Reyna smirk at his pain and mouth "pathetic." (He swore to himself that he was going to kill her later.)

"Will." Nico frowned, nodding once. 

I wasn't just thinking about you, I wasn't just thinking about you, I wasn't just-

"I was just thinking about you!" Nico blinked, mouth falling open with an audible click. He couldn't just believe the words that came out of Will's mouth. Was he losing it? Was Will losing it? Why would he be thinking about him? There was no reason that Will Solace should've been thinking about- 

"Yo dork, don't go all panicky on me." Will sounded partially amused, and partially concerned, like he was worried that Nico was really going into another dark mindset. "I was just hoping that you liked your dark roast." Was Will not aware that whenever he was around Nico (and most times, even when he was not) the majority of Nico's panic attacks were about him? He hated crushing on straight guys. He might as well have fallen in love with Percy again. 

Woah. Nico was not about to hop on that bandwagon again. Last time he had tried, he had fallen off and scraped his knees. Big time. He wasn't exactly eager to try that for the second time. 

Though, if he was being honest, it would probably have been the fifth time he tried.

Nico didn't like to be honest. Especially to himself.

"He's fine," Reyna assured Will, grinning when Nico jumped. He hadn't forgotten that she was there; the girl was a spy, only popping in when she needed too, and almost always leaving her victims to suffer. It was just surprising that she had helped Nico before he inevitably put his foot in his mouth. "He just really liked your joke." 

Ah. There was the other shoe. Dropping right on Nico's self-respect. Or lack therefore of. 

Will's face lit up at her words, not noticing that Nico was considering how much 3 years of friendship meant to him, and mentally stabbing his "best friend" repeatedly. "You really liked it?" He asked, fiddling with his apron and biting his lip, almost like he was unsure. 

Reyna nodded, considering that Nico was currently incapable of how to English, and was about to resort to Italian. "Yeah, your morning puns always make his day. At this point, I don't think he could live without them." 

He was never showing his face at Half-Blood Cafe ever again.

Nico could've been imagining it, considering the cafe's crappy lights, but he could've sworn that Will's cheeks turned pink. Well, it is warm in here, Nico noticed, frowning at the radiator. That was a reasonable explanation for him to never come back and face the reality of emotion (or living) again.

"Nico!" Reyna's voice pulled him out of his own head. The girl was smiling, which, if he knew the girl as well as he thought he did, was never a good thing. Reyna dropped her elbow on the table, her cheek cupped by the palm of her hand. In her other hand, between her middle and her pointer finger, she waved a slip of paper tauntingly in his face. "Guess who left his number for you while you were out of it. Again."

And now, Nico di Angelo remembered exactly why he loved Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano. Because even though she never made shit easy for him, she was always there to pick up the pieces when he fell.


	2. What's It To You Jackson?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If only Percy Jackson would leave Nico alone, maybe he would confess to Will on his own

Nico di Angelo hated puns. 

The scowl that would pull at his slightly chapped, pink lips was the most adorable thing Will had ever seen, which was probably the reason why he insisted on signing Nico’s cup every morning. Two weeks after Will had given Nico his number, Will had sent Nico a total of 67 memes, 154 puns, and 2 cat memes (which, according to Will, were on “a much different level from normal memes.” “Will, get your life together.”) 

The boys became inseparable, studying for midterms (“Nico, please stop trying to kill yourself with the book. Math is not that serious.” “Shut up, you shitty genius.”), eating at McDonalds (“Neeks, this is the fifth Happy Meal you’ve ordered this week, and it’s only been 3 days. Please love yourself”), and scoping out rival cafes (“Do I get paid for this?” “Sure, we’ll just call you a guest employee.” “Cool.” “Kidding”). People were starting to notice how often the two were together, and it became the norm for someone to search for one of them to ask where the other was, and find them together. Reyna continued to hang out with Nico, but the girl insisted on third wheeling at the cafe to make sure that Will didn’t “deflower her younger brother. In public at least.” (“What?” “Ignore her.”)

Will began to notice the smaller things about Nico. Like when he laughed, he involuntarily closed his eyes, and the first time it happened, Will blessed him (even though Aphrodite apparently already had) because he thought Nico had sneezed. Whenever he was having a hard time concentrating, he would tap his foot to “Walking on Sunshine,” and sink his teeth into the pale pink flesh of his, often cracked, flesh, which then distracted Will.

Another thing that Nico did that was disgustingly adorable (in addition with everything else he did) was show up to Half-Blood minutes before Will’s shift, which was pretty admirable of the night owl, considering that Will had a bad habit of waking up before the sun, and working rather early.

Apparently, today was another one of those days, Will mused as he strolled into the cafe only to find Nico already at his usual isolated table. Reyna wasn’t across from him so the dark-haired boy had put his feet up in her usual seat and was talking animatedly to Percy Jackson.

“Just order something Neeks!” The latter boy whined, eyes shifting back to where his valedictorian girlfriend, Annabeth Chase and her best friend Piper McLean, “Beauty Queen,” stood laughing.

“Don’t call me that! And leave me alone Fish Boy,” Nico seethed, obsidian eyes darkening. “I’ll order when-”

“When ‘pretty blonde Sunshine boy gets here?’” A new voice entered the conversation, a tiny Latino elf peeked his head out from under the counter. “Cause, he’s right there.” Leo pointed directly where Will stood awkwardly clutching the strap of his messenger bag, and the blond waved when all the attention turned to him. 

“Hey, Neeks!” Will smiled cheerfully, not entirely oblivious to the pink flush that painted Nico’s otherwise pale cheeks. “You’re up early.”

Nico rolled his eyes, arching his back like a tiny black cat hissing at him. “No,” the boy scowled, crossing his arms over his black t-shirt. Will appreciatively noticed how the muscles in his wiry arms flexed. “You’re just late. I want my damn coffee.”

“Oh, so now you want to order?” Percy grinned, ignoring Nico’s warning glare. “Maybe Leo’s right. Maybe my baby cousin does have a- OWWW NEEKS!”

Nico glanced over Percy’s shoulder, a real struggle especially because Percy was six feet tall and Nico was still sitting. “Annabeth, if I kill him, can I hide his body in your house?”

The blonde girl bite back a grin, grey eyes sparkling with mirth. “The police find things like that Nico.” 

“They don’t have to,” Nico sighed in defeat, turning his head back towards a blushing Will. “Coffee, black, like my soul.” Will bite his own lip, trying hard to not to laugh at the boy's self-deprecating jokes, attempting a stern face. 

“Neeks,” he trailed off warningly.

“Solace,” Nico mocked, smirking.

Will tried to not let that affect him.

Sighing, he took his bag off, and dropped it into Nico’s lap, ignoring the smaller boy’s arched brow. “Don’t you have classes today?” It wasn’t really a question, Will had memorized Nico’s schedule by now; the boy had an apparent habit of falling into a routine. Will unbuttoned his shirt cuffs, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows. He wasn’t used to wearing shirts with buttons, but he had an interview with a local hospital on Jupiter Avenue, and Lou Ellen had insisted on something nice. Too lazy to walk all the way around the counter, Will easily vaulted over the counter, landing on his feet right next to Leo. 

He turned back when Percy burst out laughing, surprised to see Nico’s jaw touching the floor, cheeks paler than normal. He didn’t miss the way Nico dropped his legs out of the chair in order to adjust his pants accordingly, and Will’s own cheeks flushed hot enough to fry bacon on them. 

“They look like they’re going to combust,” Piper cackled, tossing her choppy hair over her shoulder. 

Nico scowled again, regaining the ability to talk first. “I hate you all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY SORRY SORRY  
> I am so sorry for the late update. I've been struggling with history class and literally stayed after school every day for the past month so that I don't fail the AP History exam at the end of the year. (The struggle is real). Anyway, this the first update in a while, and I wanted to know if I should just have them get together in the next chapter or have Will and Nico struggle with the anxiety of commitment? Let me know in the comments down below.


End file.
